The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned Tuesday of the rising trend recently of air strikes targeting civilians in Yemen, urging for an end to such practices.

The ICRC said it was extremely alarmed about recent air strikes that had killed and injured dozens of civilians in the Saada and Taiz governorates in Yemen. In the latest air strike, nine members of one family were killed and three critically injured. The casualties were between three and 80 years old.

"Our colleagues have been to the village of Mahda, on the outskirts of Saada city, where they saw a house literally flattened by the explosion, while a crater showed where the impact had occurred," said Alexandre Faite, head of the ICRC delegation in Yemen.

"We strongly deplore the trend whereby public places, such as markets, as well as private houses, have been targeted by the belligerents. This is a pattern that runs counter to the basic tenets of the law of armed conflict, and it must be stopped."

According to international humanitarian law, civilians must not be attacked and warring parties must do everything feasible to verify that targets are military objectives.

Earlier on Monday, a top UN official in Yemen said a total of 201 children had been killed in the Yemeni ongoing civil war since the beginning of 2017.

According to UN agencies, more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed during more than two years of war in Yemen that has displaced over three million people.

In March 2017, UNICEF put the death toll of children from the war at 1,546. The country has also been hit by a deadly cholera outbreak and is on the brink of famine.